Dog shot, killed after biting girl

SANTEE  A man shot and killed a dog Saturday afternoon in Santee because the animal bit his girlfriend’s daughter and attacked others, authorities said.

Sheriff’s deputies responding to reports of multiple gunshots being heard in a residential neighborhood near Santee Lakes found that the man had taken the dog into the hills near Strathmore Drive and killed it.

Sheriff’s Lt. Dave Schaller said at first many deputies descended on the neighborhood at 3:10 p.m. until the details of what happened became clear.

Schaller said the man told deputies the dog had been acting overly aggressive in the past few weeks and had bitten a 9-year-old girl, two neighbors and his girlfriend.

The man and his girlfriend are both Marines and from Texas, Schaller said.

“It’s certainly a bit unusual,” Schaller said. Deputies, after consulting with county animal control officers, decided not to cite the man for any crime.

“It’s not unlawful to dispatch your own dog if it’s done in a humane manner,” he said. As for firing a gun near a residential area, Schaller said, deputies “cut him a break” for “his basic ignorance of the law.”